by Ian Donnis and Scott MacKay

Raimondo won’t rule out changing parties; says she’s not thinking about it

State Treasurer Gina Raimondo doesn’t want to completely close the door on the possibility of changing her party affiliation.

During an interview today, I asked the the treasurer whether there’s a chance she might switch parties for a campaign in 2014. Here’s her response:

“I would say, I’m not thinking about it. A lot of people are talking about that. I’m a Democrat — I believe in government. I’m personally a beneficiary of government. I wouldn’t be where I am without the RIPTA bus and my dad went to college on the GI bill.

“I’m in government because I believe in government. I believe that we have to make government work. Everyone talks about the size of government; I believe the right focus is, does government work? Let’s make it effective. let’s take a balanced approach and make government part of the solution. So I very much believe in government, and I think that’s very consistent with being a Democrat.”

Raimondo says she doesn’t have a timetable for revealing a decision about whether she’ll run for governor in 2014:

“It’s interesting how much focus there is on it when we still have [a bit less than] two years to go before the election, and a lot of work to do …. I am thinking about runnning and at some point I’ll have to make that decision.”

I’ll keep you posted on the time for the broadcast of my interview with the treasurer.